Deathbottle
|image = |name = Deathbottle |kingdom = Plantae}} The '''deathbottle' or deathbottle plant (also spelt death-bottle) is a species of large carnivorous flowering plant native to the Rainshadow Desert of 200 million AD. The population of deathbottles is particularly sparse. Biology As the soil of the Rainshadow Desert is severely lacking in nutrients, the deathbottle has evolved to obtain its nutrients from animals: it is a carnivore. Part of the plant consists of an underground chamber, concealed by a thin membrane which is often covered with sand. On the ground level, all that is visible of the deathbottle is a spray of stems and leaves - photosynthesize sunlight and act as bait for herbivorous desert animals - and a large, blue flower some way off, connected to the rest of the plant by a long, rope-like stalk. The underground chamber of a deathbottle is full of sharp, poisonous spines which kill or paralyze any animals which fall in. These spines do not move themselves, but as the prey struggles and tries to escape, it will surely impale itself on the spines without any outside help. The plant's digestive juices will them break down the animal's tissues over the next few days, until all the nutrients have been extracted and the membrane over the trap has regrown, making the deathbottle ready for its next victim. Due to the small size of deathbottle populations and the unreliability of many pollination methods, the plant has developed a unique system of self-pollination, whereby pollen is transferred to the female part within the same plant, allowing any one individual deathbottle to produce its own seeds. However, the seeds still need to be dispersed, and to do this the deathbottle uses bumblebeetles. In order to attract bumblebeetles, the deathbottle's flower has evolved to have the shape and silvery sheen of a dead ocean flish, and enzymes in the flower can even recreate the odour of rotting flesh. Inside the flower is a small chamber, which is full of the deathbottle's sticky seeds. The floor of this chamber contains a catapult mechanism which can launch out any unwanted animals. Ecology The deathbottle's main prey item is the desert hopper, a rabbit-sized gastropod which is the largest animal in the Rainshadow Desert. Hungry desert hoppers are easily lured in by the stems and leaves which bait the deathbottle's trap, and a single hopper can sustain a deathbottle for several days. Deathbottles rely on flying insects like bumblebeetles for reproduction to such an extent that part of their biology is entirely dedicated to attracting bumblebeetles and bumblebeetles alone. The leafy, flish-shaped flower of the deathbottle, and the enzyme-borne odour of rotting flesh, will lure in any passing bumblebeetle in search of a flishwreck, which will land on the flower to deposit grimworms, only to find itself suddenly covered in sticky seeds and catapulted away. As it flies around the desert or fights with other bumblebeetles, the deathbottle's heavy seeds will fall from its body and land in the sand, where they will grow into new deathbottles if the conditions are right. Appearances In the documentary In "Graveyard Desert," a feeding desert hopper accidentally falls into the trap of a deathbottle and is killed. Later, a bumblebeetle is baited into crawling into a deathbottle's flower, and becomes covered in seeds which later fall off during a fight with another bumblebeetle. In the manga In "Rainshadow Desert," a group of desert hoppers end up in a valley which is filled with deathbottles. Most of them fall in and are killed, but one hopper manages to escape by jumping across the rocks. List of appearances *''The Future Is Wild'' **1x01. Welcome to the Future **1x12. Graveyard Desert **''The Future Is Wild'' (US) *''The Future Is Wild: A Natural History of the Future'' *''The Future Is Wild'' manga **07. Rainshadow Desert *''The Future Is Wild: The Living Book'' Notes *In "Graveyard Desert" and The Future Is Wild: A Natural History of the Future, it is stated and shown that, as part of its seed dispersal strategy, the deathbottle plant disguises itself as a flishwreck and lures a bumblebeetle to crawl inside its flower. However, when a bumblebeetle finds a genuine flishwreck, she does not crawl inside it - she simply falls apart and dies on top of it. Gallery |-|Documentary= FIW 1x12 Desert hopper in deathbottle.png FIW 1x12 Deathbottle opening.png FIW 1x12 Deathbottle pit.png FIW 1x12 Desert hopper trapped.png FIW 1x12 Deathbottle trap.png FIW 1x12 Deathbottle flower.png FIW 1x12 Bumblebeetle on flower.png |-|Promotional= Deathbottle cropped.png Deathbottle_banner_2.png In other languages Navigation Category:Plants and other flora Category:Venomous and poisonous life Category:Organisms of 200 million AD Category:Organisms of Pangaea II Category:Organisms of the Rainshadow Desert Category:200 million AD